Coursera week 3

 Coursera week 3

 

This week begins with a discussion of culture and its relevance when individuals become mobile, moving between geographical and social contexts. I look at a case study of a student from the United Kingdom who comes to Johannesburg, South Africa. The case study help me to think about who owns culture and how different or similar we are across contexts. Next, I consider Thornton’s arguments about culture. He argues against the view that there are many cultures and notes that there is only culture. Thornton considers culture as a resource to which people have different degrees of access. Some examples of cultural resources are clothes, money, beliefs, ideas. Individuals draw on these to construct their identity, but unequal access to these resources that are valued gives some people more possibilities to construct identities that are dominant and more valued.

 This creates a semblance of difference between groups of people. As people move across borders, these differences may become heightened, because some of the cultural resources that an individual carries with her, may cease to be relevant or may be seen as threatening. So, when supporting one’s argument about what happens to identity as individuals move across borders, it is important to delve into culture and how culture creates differences, how it may accentuate boundaries, and how these may or may not impact on identity. Writing paragraphs in support of one’s argument requires close attention to how the paragraphs link with the position, and with other ideas across the paragraphs.

 

I was given an example of a well-written paragraph and analyse its form to see why it is good. then review paragraphs submitted by the three student writers and note what is strong and what could be improved in each. I got introduced to the core aspects of referencing in essays. I also understand why referencing is an important part of academic writing when we are referring to different people’s views (or voices) and distinguishing these from our own.

 

I find it difficult to: - Analyze arguments about cultural differences

-         Recognize the components and function of a paragraph of an academic essay

-         Use quotes from authors, and reference them correctly

-         Write paraphrases of authors’ views and reference them correctly

-         Discover how to make your essay coherent and cohesive

 

Accentuate  is a new vocab for me